HOW much did the president know and why didn’t he do more to stop it? That was the question being bandied about all week on the talk shows.

What were they trying to say exactly – that President Bush knew but forgot to stop the World Trade Center attacks?

Please. I mean, I didn’t vote for the guy, but do you honestly believe he was too busy shooting doves on his ranch last summer to stop the attack? And considering that the government gets hundreds of these threats every year, what was he to do? Stop all flights forever? Close down all big buildings? Bomb bin Laden?

Bill Clinton had already tried and hit a bunch of tents and an aspirin factory.

Or maybe the president should have issued more of those dopey cover-your-rear vague warnings that we’ve been bombarded with since 9/11. Red alert! Something could happen in a mall this weekend. Germ warfare could arrive in the mail on Tuesday! A truck bomb might explode in a tunnel Thursday!

So how many malls did you stay out of, how much mail did you burn, and how many tunnels did you avoid? Right. Me too.

Famed chefs bare their beefcake

THERE are two words that should never be in the same sentence, let alone the same proximity: naked and blender. But go tell that to some of the city’s most famous chefs who are lining up to pose in the buff with blenders in strategic places, in Food Arts magazine.

So far Aaron Sanchez, chef/owner of Paladar, and Douglas Rodriguez, formerly of Patria and now of Chicama, have posed totally naked holding their Vita-Preps. Todd English of Olives flat-out refused to take it all off. He wore his watch.

Sanchez’s ad boasts, “Is this a fine looking machine or what?” You bet. And the blender is nice, too.

THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE MENOPAUSAL

THE Marines have finally come to their senses and stopped trying to recruit 18-year old males, and are openly recruiting menopausal women. It’s true! How else can you explain their new slogan – “The Change Is Forever.” Dear God, what a thought.

Actually, it would take about 14 seconds for a platoon of peri-menopausal women to do what all the CIA operatives in the world have been unable to do – find Osama bin Laden.

You think not? Did you ever try to hide from your mother – especially when she was in a hormonally induced month-long bad mood? Most men can’t deal with one woman who’s hot flashing and mood changing, let alone, say 1,000 of them – especially if those same overheated females found out they’d been dropped into a stinky camp with no room service. Bin Laden’s bad guys would give up in an Afghan minute.

For love of God?LET me see if I get this straight.

Jews and Muslims are killing each other in the Middle East.

Hindus and Muslims are killing each other in India.

Catholic priests sexually assault women and children.

Extreme Buddhists (Aum Shinrikyo) gassed the Tokyo subway.

Three thousand people were killed in the WTC attack for the love of God. The death toll between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria is in the thousands.

The Taliban beat and killed women who broke God’s “laws.”

You think this is really what God had in mind when He invented humans? Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

‘MOB’ TRIAL OF THE RICH & INFAMOUS

IS this a case of murder in a rich, powerful and politically connected family, or a mob trial?

It’s hard to say – but man! – the disgraceful tactics in the Michael Skanky, er, Skakel trial would do Don Corleone proud.

Take the suspect’s father, Rushton “The Old Man” Skakel – please. He claims he’s too senile to remember anything. Who is he, “Chin” Gigante with this excuse? Maybe he is The Chin. After all, he’s got the comb-over, the dribble and the Depends – all he’s missing are the pajamas.

Then there are the witnesses who are recanting their grand jury testimonies so fast, you’d think someone made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

And those who didn’t recant should have. I mean, the witness list included dead guys, criminals, an arsonist and assorted nut jobs uttering the “confessions” they elicited from the defendant when he was in drug-rehab school. The confessions, they claim, came after Skakel was forced to wear a six-foot dunce cap, and was beaten silly by other students at the principal’s behest. Oh.

Even the murder sounds like something out of a mob movie: The family of the young girl beaten to death goes to the cops thinking they will bring her killer to justice – even though the suspect’s family owns the system. Right. Good luck with that plan.

All that’s missing are the wit and wisdom of Don Corleone: “If you’d come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day.” Not standing trial 27 years later.

You’ve got e-mail

FROM Tomgav35: “I should have known better than to expect anything other than a continuing dose of dishonesty . . . Skakel is not related to the Kennedys . . . I guess it’s too much to expect you to admit that . . . maybe you need another day job.” You’re telling me!